Poland detains Russian for 'execution' plot in Warsaw, Tusk says

Poland's prime minister said Thursday that authorities arrested a Russian citizen who was allegedly recruited by Russia's secret services, thwarting his plan to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

The Russian was detained on ‌August 7 and had been ⁠recruited to kill a man who was "inconvenient to the Putin regime", Donald Tusk told ‌journalists.

The Russian had been hired to kill a man who had both Ukrainian and US passports, Tusk said, without giving any more information on his identity.

"At the last minute, thanks to the action of the Internal Security Agency and the police, we managed to prevent this execution, this attack," the prime minister said.

"We have to accept the assumption that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons," Tusk said.

Warsaw, he added, "will likely come under similar pressure again".

Poland, a NATO and EU member state along the alliance's Eastern flank, has accused Russia of "sabotage" on several occasions since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Tusk added that it was the first time that “someone on the order of Russia” sought to attack an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country.

In June, a Russian artist critical of President Vladimir Putin was shot and killed in the eastern Polish town of Biala Podlaska, prosecutors said. Poland says its role as a hub ⁠for military and other supplies to neighbouring Ukraine has made it ⁠a target for Russian espionage and attacks.

The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not ⁠immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Several opponents of the Russian authorities have been victims of attacks abroad, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Lithuania.

Moscow has regularly dismissed accusations by European powers of attacks, saying the West is stoking anti-Russian ‌paranoia.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)